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If you want to make over 200 million ISK per hour, increase your winning odds in PvP encounters, and come up with the best ship fitting strategy, then this set of EVE guides. should not be missed out on. The comprehensive coverage of EVE Online makes the guides essential for staying one step ahead of other players.

Caldari ships reflect their origins in a dispassionate corporate culture, one more concerned with ends than the means necessary to reach them. They are almost exclusively shield tanks and favor the use of missiles and, to a lesser extent, railguns. Caldari fleet tactics are usually based upon the principle of destroying their target from a long distance; maintaining this distance in a prolonged battle can prove troublesome, however, as Caldari ships tend to be heavier, slower, and less maneuverable than their counterparts among the other races.

An austere aesthetic is evident in Caldari design, with ships covered in flat surfaces, often at asymmetric angles or with off-balance appearances, which feature a bare gunmetal shading adorned only with flashing running lights and bands of red paint around key components. Caldari have a tendency to name their ships after animals, particularly birds (Moa, Eagle, Crane, Merlin, Condor but also Badger and Scorpion), although some ships are also named after more fantastic creatures (Phoenix, Basilisk, Rokh).

Caldari ships generally boast the most medium slots of any faction (a result of the Caldari preference for strong shielding, as most shield strengtheners are medium slot modules), but this comes at the expense of low slots. The regenerative properties of shielding also allows for some ships to be set up for passive tanking. While their emphasis on missile launchers grants them the versatility of being able to deal all damage types, Caldari ships tend to receive bonuses to kinetic damage, and they thus favor that damage type. The Caldari are also noted for fielding relatively more powerful Electronic Warfare vessels than other factions (Griffin frigate, Blackbird cruiser, Scorpion battleship, etc.), which tend to use ECM jammers.

Strengths:

Strong shield tanking, with a large number of medium slots – some Caldari passive shield tanks are nearly unbreakable

Their ships can operate at longest range of all factions. They have the longest standard target range and railgun and missile range and damage bonuses

Ships often have many launcher hardpoints, operating as dedicated missile boats and allowing for a fair amount of versatility in damage types and needing no capacitor. This also has the advantage that they don't need to equip capacitor support modules and they can adjust very well to all types of ememies.

Caldari ships are very powerful in PvE, as NPCs generally have few defenses against missiles.

Very strong ECM boats, with high CPU and many medium slots and receiving bonuses to ECM jammers. Caldari ships are also very strong against ECM, having powerful sensors.

Weaknesses:

Overall, Caldari ships are the slowest and heaviest, with few low slots to be able to compensate for this, making it hard to maintain range advantage

Reliance on missiles has some drawbacks for PVP, for example hitting for much lower damage on moving or smaller enemies and having to wait between the launch and actual impact (as opposed to the "instant" damage of turrets)

Fitting EW and AB/MWD modules reduces ability to shield tank, since these types of modules both use medium slots

Armor tanking tends to be ineffective, due to low armor capacities and few low slots

Some reliance on capacitor to shoot hybrid turrets. If you have no cap, you can't shoot these weapons.

Shuttle

Shuttles are very common, disposable transportation ships. They have no fittable slots at all, but do travel extremely fast.

Frigates

Non-combat Tech 1 Caldari frigates include the Bantam miner, the Heron scout and the Griffin EWAR boat. Caldari lack the gunboat frigate found in other factions' fleets; the Kestrel being a missile specialist and the Merlin a missile-gun split.

Tech 1

Bantam

The Caldari mining frigate, the Bantam can mount 2 mining lasers, and has a small drone bay and a good-sized cargo hold. It can fight if you need it to, and is very cheap (you get 3 of them from the tutorial missions). The Bantam also gains 20% more output to mining lasers and a 5% larger cargo hold for each level of Caldari Frigate skill. (N.B.: The in-game description of the Bantam may contain an error.)

Condor

The Condor has an impressive speed, being one of the fastest Caldari frigates available. It sports 3 hardpoints (two launcher and one turret) with average shielding and armor. It's cheap, and is often the first ship bought by novice Caldari pilots for running kill missions. You get 1 Condor for free as a militairy tutorial mission reward. The missiles complement the need to fly at high-speed angles well.

In PvP it is often used as a cheap, throw-away tackler. It can fill it's launcher, mount an AB and several speed rigs, and a scrambler to easily pin down targets much larger than itself. It's disposable nature makes it no problem to lose, as as fully tech I fitted Condor will run less than 300k, sans rigs.

Griffin

The Griffin is an EWAR frigate, used in specific situations and seldom alone, receiving a bonus to ECM strength and capacitor use. It lacks the range of the larger ewar vessels, but is a useful and very cheap addition if ECM is badly needed.

Heron

The Heron has only a small drone bay, but like the Condor is quite speedy, and is a solid choice for a T1 scout. It can only mount a missile launcher and a turret, and its defenses aren't great, but it does have several medium slots. Possessing the highest CPU rating of all T1 frigates, it is one of the few of them that is able to mount a scan probe launcher and have enough CPU remaining to fit other modules, making it useful as a poor man's covert ops ship.
It also has a the largest cargo hold of all Caldari frigates (320 m3).

For low-skill players, the Heron makes a decent radar/gravimetric explorer. Fitting a Salvager and a Scan Probe Launcher, with an Analyzer/Codebreaker combo, this little frigate can scan down and do high sec Radar/Grav sites quickly and speedily, using it's limited drones to wipe out any rats at the sites.

Kestrel

The venerable Kestrel is a pure missile frigate, able to mount four launchers – the most of any Tech 1 frigate. Since NPCs can't generally deal with missiles, the Kestrel is an ideal missioner. However, it is considerably slower than other frigates, which combined with its missile loadout makes the Kestrel rather vulnerable in PvP, although it can be an adequate tackler. Rockets are a possibility for greater damage potential, this being one of very few ships that can use them well. It also has a huge base cargo hold for a frigate (305 m3).

Merlin

With its good armor, great shielding, and a 5% bonus per Caldari Frigate skill level to shield resistances, the Merlin is a tough nut to crack, but it's also slow and has only a small cargo hold. With 4 medium slots, the Merlin is capable of putting together a powerful shield tank, although most such setups are somewhat limited in other respects (e.g. tackling, afterburners or microwarpdrives, etc.). It does receive a bonus of 10% to hybrid turretoptimal range per level of Caldari Frigates skill, so it would seem that this ship is intended to be a sniper, perhaps using a speed fit to maintain distance while raining down with a pair of railguns. Unfortunately, this puts a great deal of strain on the ships limited power grid.
A close range blaster/rocket setup is workable but not quite up to par with the more popular Rifter.

Faction

Caldari Navy Hookbill

The Caldari frigate Loyalty Point reward, the Hookbill receives a hundred percent extra damage to Kinetic Missile and Rocket damage and fifty percent to the other damage types at max skills. This, combined with it's extensive five mid-slot layout, leads to an impressive little missile frigate, packing a punch while soaking up a remarkable amount of punishment to boot. On the downside, it is very costly, generally sitting at around 25 million ISK and lacks the resistances of tech II frigates, but in the right hands this little demon can really bring some serious frigate-sized firepower to the table.

Tech 2 Assault Ships

Harpy

The Harpy assault ship is probably the best sniping frigate in the game, due to its dual small hybrid turret range bonuses. Properly fit, the Harpy can reach a range of nearly 100 km, noticeably further than comparable ships. Combined with its small signature radius and the range it operates at, a Harpy can be nearly impossible to bring down.
Another increasingly popular fit is the blaster harpy or "blarpy", which incorporates 4 neutron blasters, giving it formiddable firepower and a place among the best assault frigates, despite its speed disadvantage.

Hawk

The Hawk is often overlooked in favor of the Harpy for PVP, due to very poor dps and fairly tight power grid and CPU. However, it can perform well in complexes and missions where its weapons and active tank bonus fit right in.

Since the Incursion expansion in late 2010, a Rocket/MWD/Boosting Hawk has become a very decent ship to use in small gang and solo fights. What it lacks in brute stopping power it makes up for with an outstanding tank, especially when fitted with a cheap complex shield booster. It can spew rockets at 15km, longer if the player wishes to rig for it. In any case, scoff at a post-Incursion Hawk at your own peril!

Manticore

The Manticore was widely regarded as the best stealth bomber until Revelations 2.0, differing from the other stealth bombers in that it was the only bomber capable of mounting 3 cruise missile launchers, as opposed to the 2 launcher hardpoints other stealth bombers possess. Since Rev 2.0, however, all stealth bombers received upgrades to their arsenal in the way of Bombs and a 6 AU/s warp speed. It still packs a wallop, but is also fragile.
It is worth mentioning that the Manticore's CPU output is considerably better than the other bombers.

Tech 2 Electronic Attack Ship

Kitsune

The Kitsune is the Caldari electronic attack ship. A good ship for decentralizing EWAR resources within a fleet, it features a host of bonuses to ECM target jammers, and five med slots, which is fairly astounding for a frigate. So while frail and completely unimpressive when it comes to firepower, the Kitsune can be a major problem to get rid of for any lone pilot within its range, and a major asset to any small gang. The Kitsune perfectly demonstrates and complements the power of frigate gangs in PvP.
The Kitsune also posesses considerable speed for a Caldari vessel, able to surpass 2.5-3km/s depending on fitting and skills.
Despite these advantages, the Kitsune is somewhat handicapped by its poor lock range, forcing it to either move in close or compromise its EWAR for sensor boosters.

Tech 2 Interceptors

Crow

Without question the most popular interceptor in Empire space, if not all of EVE, the Crow is actually one of the slowest in base max velocity. What makes the Crow so appealing to many pilots is its ease of use: it has 3 launcher hardpoints, so with an all-launcher setup all you have to do is get inside firing range and stay outside of webbing range to be successful – no worries about turrets and enemy angular velocities.

Raptor

Frequently ignored completely by Caldari interceptor pilots, the Raptor suffers from two facts that make it hard to justify using instead of a Crow: split turret/launcher hardpoints, requiring more skills and lessening overall damage bonuses, and the dubious honor of being the slowest interceptor of all. The Raptor is however a 13.5 AU/s warp speed interceptor, making it extremely useful when pursuing fleeing targets. Game mechanics changes have also given this overlooked ship a marginal increase in optimal range of tackling gear.

Destroyers

Tech 1

Cormorant

The Cormorant, the Caldari destroyer, is a lot of bang for the buck. At a cost of slightly less than one million ISK and with the destroyer bonuses to optimal range. Unlike most missile-heavy Caldari ships, it can fit up to seven turrets and only one missile launcher, which even in the hands of a relatively new player can inflict massive damage from far away – in the hands of more-experienced players, the Cormorant will make lunchmeat out of frigates.
Unfortunately, the Cormorant suffers from the weak tank typical of a destroyer, meaning that a pilot is forced to use the ship's range bonuses, as it can get ripped apart if an opponent gets close.

Starting miners also find it useful, both for its ability to mount multiple miners as well as its large cargo bay (450 m3). For the frigate skill levels 3 or 4 you will pull somewhat more ore per minute using 5 named lasers on a Cormorant than a Bantam, although the next step, the tier 1 cruiser Osprey, surpasses the Cormorant in mining capacity with its mining bonus. And like all destroyers, it is also a useful platform for salvaging. However, the Cormorant's single low slot makes it fairly unpopular as a dedicated salvager.

Tech 2 Interdictor

Flycatcher

Like other interdictors, Flycatchers are valuable tools for controlling 0.0 gates with interdictor sphere launchers. With an all-missile setup, a 'Catcher can fly fast and still hit its target, and is also cheaper than Sabre, making it useful for intensive combat with high loss potential. Its excellent missile capabilities are somewhat countered by a high mass and poor agility, though the latter has been improved in recent game patches. With four medium slots, it is capable of several distinct configurations, such as a dual-webifier configuration. It has also seen some use as a specialized "Ragnarok tackler", i.e. an interdictor that is able to tank the explosive damage of the Ragnarok's doomsday weapon.

Cruisers

Tech 1

Osprey

A cheap, mass-produced cruiser, the Osprey is a favourite amongst cash-strapped pilots. It is a capable miner and hauler, and can do light ratting on the side. It receives a 20% bonus to mining laser yields per rank of Caldari Cruiser.

Blackbird

The "little Scorpion," a Blackbird pilot's life is often brief and glorious – being fairly effective at Target Jamming ships much larger than itself, the Blackbird often attracts the attention of deeply annoyed battleship pilots who find themselves unable to lock anything. This, combined with the lack of any meaningful tank results in the blackbird frequently being primaried.

Caracal

The Caracal is a powerful missile boat, being able to fit 5 Heavy Launchers with ease. However, this raw DPS comes at a price, as though it has 5 medium slots, its low CPU makes shield tanking difficult – equipping one of the two low slots with a coprocessor is required to fit both a speed module and a shield booster – and it has exceptionally low armor. Being a missile ship, it generally needs tackling support to hit fleeing ships. It is capable of dishing out a fair amount of DPS, if perhaps not as much as a turret-based ship, but since missiles don't have to worry about angular velocity or accuracy falloff, a Caracal has advantages in certain situations.

In PvP, Caracals can be a very popular and cheap to replace anti-support vessel when mounted with Assault Launchers. A pack of these can be effective in bringing down drones and slow-moving frigate-sized vessels (given that they aren't tanked heavily, usually a difficult task). It is also fairly good as a generic support ship for new players – a Caracal with a MWD, light or no tank and heavy missiles which allows a pilot to be valuable asset to small gang if they can't fly more popular close-range Minmatar/Gallente cruisers. Caracals often die fast enough in large fleet combat that the travel time of the missile actually has a significant impact on the ship's damage efficiency.

Moa

The Moa is a very different ship than the Caracal, with superior defenses, more turret hardpoints, and fewer launcher hardpoints. Eschewing damage bonuses in favor of a hybrid turretoptimal range bonus and a shield resistance bonus, the Moa becomes more of a turtle than a typical damage-dealing gunboat. It's slow, but if it can maintain range, it will be able to deal unanswered damage. Unfortunately, the Moa's big price tag (nearly twice as much as a Caracal) and the fact it has relatively poor powergrid for a ship designed to use railguns means it is not as frequently used.

Tech 2 Heavy Assault Ships

Cerberus

The Caracal's big brother, the Cerberus is a super-destructive missile-spewing ship. It is extremely useful in PvE, as it provides a more extensive tank in addition to its improved damage-dealing abilities. Its small gang PvP ability is also considerable, as long as the enemy you're shooting at isn't too mobile. With recent increase in agility for all Caldari ships, a high-speed nano configuration for Cerberus has become a deadly option.

Eagle

The Moa's big brother, a sniper ideal for taking out support ships in PvP fleet battles. Often an underrated Heavy Assault Ship, when used correctly the Eagle will strike fear into all but the coolest-headed support ship pilots. Though it has only a single damage bonus, which takes more time to increase because it depends on the Heavy Assault Ship skill level of the pilot, it receives a double range bonus for all hybrid weapons, which together with tracking enhancers and computers, for which room is plentiful, mean that this ship can easily shred foes at 100 kilometers plus. Even when using a fit more emphasizing on damage, the Eagle easily has twice the range of ships its size.

Tech 2 Heavy Interdictor

==

The Onyx is the Caldari Heavy Interdictor, a ship type more frequently found in null-sec space than elsewhere. With a menacing black hull, red markings and arguably the best combination of features of any Heavy Interdictor, the Onyx is an intimidating sight. Not only does it have enough med slots to both put up a well-performing shield tank and throw in some speed and EWAR modules, but it also has four low slots that allow it to power those modules continuously, and a considerable bonus to shield resistances as well. Add to this damage and velocity bonuses to heavy missile launchers, both regular and assault, and the standard range bonus to interdiction spheres per Heavy Interdictor skill level, and one understands what makes this ship so ferocious.

Tech 2 Logistics

Basilisk

Probably the best shield-reinforcing vessel in the game, the Basilisk sees a bit more use than its other Logistics counterparts, as the Basilisk is one of only two non-capital ships that can reinforce the shields of a Player Owned Station. It can also be used in PvE to reinforce a high-end missioning Raven rather well. Its use in PvP requires forethought and planning – often it will be targetted before the ships it would reinforce.

Tech 2 Recon Ships

Falcon

The Falcon is arguably the most feared of the Caldari EWAR vessels, simply because the Falcon packs a cloak – you may not know it is there until it is too late to stop. Once uncloaked, it is capable of deploying its ECM jammers with speed and at astounding ranges. This tactic of waiting until one's targets are occupied, and then jamming them into disorientation while other pilots finish them off gives the Falcon somewhat of an advantage over its brother, the Rook, whose remarkable jamming strength it also shares. However, Falcon pilots must be on the alert for opponents suddenly beginning to turn their attention in their direction, or risk not being able to cloak and pick their next fight.

Rook

For the truly brave (or recklessly wealthy) the Rook represents the top of the line in Caldari EWAR boats. Capable of reaching a jamming strength beyond any other vessel, from a range that few ships can match, the Rook is a fair rival to the Scorpion for the title of "Champion of ECM." Unfortunately, the Rook is even more swiftly attacked than the Scorpion and lacks the cloak of the Falcon to escape with.
However, the recent changes giving this ship higher damage and a 25m3 drone bay, coupled with its already generous slot layout has made the Rook a viable choice over the Falcon. While lacking the cloak it has much higher firepower, which can make all the difference as both ships now engage at drastically shorter ranges than they used to.

Tech 3 Strategic Cruisers

Tengu

The Caldari Tech III Cruiser is generally considered the best choice for doing PvE content; the combination of shield tanking and the versatility of Missiles makes the Tengu very desirable against a myriad of enemy targets.

Tech III cruisers are designed to be modular; utilizing a base hull which has 5 special Subsystem slots, the cruiser can be customized to do anything a player may want with the click of a button. Using a Shield Booster Subsystem with a high damage Missile subsystem will make the cruiser very good for PvE content, when, while docked, the player can switch it to a Covert Recon type configuration, which can mount a Covert Cloak.

Despite this, their high price tag(generally around 500 million+ when just getting the ship assembled) and extensive skill requirements make them cost prohibitive to alot of players. Still, if you need versatility at a moments notice and want to fly one of the most powerful Cruisers in the game, the Tengu is the optimal ship for you.

Battlecruisers

Tech 1

Drake

The Drake was added in the Revelations patch, boasting one of the most impressive combinations of tank and firepower in the battlecruiser class. Capable of mounting seven Heavy Missile Launchers, the Drake can swat NPC ships aside with ease, while using none of its considerable capacitor to do so (allowing the Drake's resistance bonuses and other systems to be further supported). Drakes are great for small fleet actions, as long as they're supported. But, as with all missile boats, it's not so hot when trying to fling its arsenal at dying ships in much larger battles.

Ferox

Like the Moa and Merlin before it, the Ferox forgoes a damage bonus in favor of a range one. It can, in fact, surpass 120 km ranges when fitted with 250mm Tech 2 railguns, but it has limited use as a sniper ship due to its low damage.

Nevertheless if you ignore the railgun range bonus, the Ferox does have 5 launcher hardpoints allowing it to fit 5 heavy missile launchers, 1 tractor beam and 1 salvager making it a nice level 3 mission runner.

The Ferox can be passive tanked almost to the level of the Drake, but overall is not worth the effort if a Drake is affordable.

Tech 2 Command Ships

Nighthawk

The Nighthawk is a dedicated missile boat and has bonuses specifically designed to damage smaller targets better. Like all Command Ships it has an incredible tank, able to withstand huge amounts of punishment. As the Field Command ship of the Caldari, it understandably sports massive firepower, with six out of seven high slots dedicated as launcher hardpoints, and bonuses to both missile launch rate, damage and precision. Basically, it's a Drake, sharing base speed, bonuses and with many other attributes laying close to the Drake's. But it's a Drake with T2 resistances and more punch, making it far more fearsome.

Vulture

The Vulture is a dedicated railgun boat and its bonuses are designed to allow it to support long range battleships. Its use of gang modules can provide extra resistance or better shield tanking ability. While the resistances can be useful in long range PvP fights, the bonuses make them more useful for supporting either capital ships or small roving gangs. In conclusion, the Vulture is meant to do one thing, namely to sit back and pick off targets with its railguns, which can easily reach far in excess of 100 km, while turning most Caldari- and Minmatar-based gangs into veritable steamrollers, able to outlast all but the most dedicatedly tanked opposition.

Battleships

Tech 1

Raven

The powerhouse of the Caldari Navy, the Raven can inflict very impressive amounts of damage in a battleship conflict. While its damage capability has waned in the last few expansions, the ship is still capable of anchoring a small gang with solid damage and respectable tanking ability, owing to its 6 launcher hardpoints and 2 other available high slots.

Often toted as the king of PvE (at least as far as Tech 1 ships go), the Raven can easily clean out almost any class of NPC ship. Following Quantum rise, it has somewhat more trouble dealing damage to smaller ships but this is compensated for largely by use of drones. The Raven still has a problem in large fleet combat, where missiles are much less efficient due to flight time.

Rokh

Following the Merlin-Harpy-Moa-Eagle line, the Rokh is the last word in snipers. Exceeding the legendary Megathron in range, the Rokh's arrival in Revelations caused many Caldari pilots to rejoice at finally receiving a large fleet-friendly (and symmetrical) battleship. It is also the best non-ORE miner, and having a bonus to shield resistances and the powergrid and fitting that it does, it can be tough to crack. It does have a contender in the Amarr Apocalypse, though even if the damage difference between them might be situational, the Rokh is clearly the superior in range. However, it does need significant boosting equipment for its targeting range, or supporting ships to fully use this capability, as its weapons' tremendous range otherwise becomes unmanageable. It is also the slowest battleship around, no contest. So while the Rokh is perfect for sniping from the outset of the battlefield and destroying the enemy's support or EWAR assets, it will need some sort of guard against cloaked attackers.

Scorpion

This mighty ship has received a few facelifts since it left the prototype stage, and now has settled in as the ultimate T1 EWAR boat. With the ability to fit 8 medium slot modules, such as ECM jammers or remote sensor dampeners, this ship allows its pilot to inflict all kinds of difficulties on opponents, and can still fit 6 weapons of various kinds. The Scorpion has the dubious distinction of frequently being the first ship called primary in a fleet battle, due to its impressive crowd control ability.

Scorpion Navy Issue

Tech 2 Black Ops

Widow

The Widow is the Caldari Black Ops battleship. Based on the Scorpion, it features its lower-tech sibling's ECM jammer bonus, with an extra 5% factor thrown in, thus making its jammers twice as strong at the mandatory battleship skill needed to pilot it. However, it does not have a range bonus, instead featuring a rate of fire and velocity and explosion velocity bonus to cruise and siege missiles, and a considerably harder shell than the Scorpion. Together with eight midslots, and the ability to fly faster cloaked than visible, this makes the Widow both a self-sufficient and deadly ship on many levels, although it might still have problems against faster targets.

Tech 2 Marauder

Golem

The Golem is the Caldari Marauder. Sporting a bonus to target painters that stands out as unusual, not just for a marauder ship but also for a Caldari one, it features four launcher hardpoints and a bonus to cruise missiles and torpedoes. Included in this is the standard Marauder bonus that doubles the damage dealt by either of those missile types, effectively leaving the three highslots not occupied by launchers free for other gear. Featuring a shield boost bonus and a massive high-resist shield, the Golem can put up a mean tank.
Like all marauders, the Golem has limited use in PVP owing to its large price tag and limited boost over tech 1 battleships, but for missions it is hard to find better.

Industrials

Tech 1

Caldari Industrial ships generally suffer from the Caldari tendency towards medium slots (a fatal flaw in an industrial as there are no mid slot options that affect cargo capacity).

Badger

The Badger boasts a relatively large cargo hold compared to other industrials that require the same low-level of training to pilot. Like all Caldari ships however, its primary defenses are its shields, and without ample support it can be taken down quickly by even the weak NPC pirates found in higher security systems. Caution should be taken when transporting goods alone.

Badger Mark II

The Mark II is a larger, sturdier version of the original Badger, with stronger defenses, extra medium and low slots, and a larger base cargo hold.

Tech 2 Transport Ships

Caldari Transport Ships include the Bustard and the Crane. Neither is particularly common in New Eden because of the middle-of-the-pack qualities of Caldari Industrials and Freighters. Since most industrial pilots train Gallente (for the can-gulping Iteron Mark V), and/or Amarr, the training time necessary to fly a hauler that trades lowslots for midslots can be hard to justify.

Crane

The Crane is a Caldari Transport Ship. The Crane suffers from the Caldari tendency to trade low slots (2) for mid slots (4), a quality which can be used to great effect in combat but is of dubious value in a hauler.